The Endeavours of the Vigilate Herba
by BlackTacoSauce
Summary: The United Galactic Federation is finally ready to unveil their best-kept secret, their new capitol ship. All they need is a certain shipment of uranium to fuel the beast, which was being shipped by the frigate Vigilate Herba, until it took a wrong turn. The UGF's eternal nemesis, the Sanctum Syndicate, has found out about the new project. Who will win control of the new ship?


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Space Engineers in any way, henceforth all rights ****of this story ****are reserved to ****KEEN SWH LTD. ****and those legally affiliated with Space Engineers.**

A/N: This fan-fiction is my take on what the lore could and should be. Seeing as there is no other stories which partake in lore generation for Space Engineers, I figured that I'd at least have a shot. Please give me feedback!

**Chapter 1: Lost**

Time: 0600 Hours

Location: Aboard the UGF _Vigilate Herba _(Vigilant Blade in Italian- the original language of the UGF)

(Third-Person POV)

First Captain Caesar Narciso was a proud and legitimate cargo transporter for the United Galactic Federation. (UGF) He was a modest 5' 3", 120lbs and sported a muscular build at a reasonable 34 years old. His facial expression could be simply described as, "Stay on my good side, and you'll be fine. Piss me off and you're in a world of hurt." He had a California tan, gleaming blue eyes, dark black hair, a straight face and a physically noticeable vigilant posture. His crew and he generally moved cargo from the Epidna system to the farthest reaches of the UGF for the construction of destroyer-class cruisers. This meant he was bound to attract a trail, so he had to have stealth features implemented, along with defenses in case of an ambush. After his generous 10 years working with the UGF, he was given enough steel, silicon, glass and electronic components to build a capitol-class cruiser. Instead of opting for size, he condensed most of his materials into Heavy armor and built a reasonably-sized ship, with 2 large reactors and enough cargo space and turrets that you might classify it as a destroyer. For crew he had four gunners, two copilots, six workmen and two engineers. He was the commanding body of the ship and the best high-risk cargo shipper in the sector, so anything he wished for, the UGF unquestioningly supplied. His current mission was to ship 12,000 Uranium ingots and 50,000 Gold ingots to the upper Satril system, where the UGF was constructing it's second capitol ship. Little did he know that his precious cargo attracted more than just the watchful eye of the UGF. All of a sudden, the copilot to his left, Second Captain Sheyla Dominguez stiffened in her seat and her eyes grew wide.

(Caesar POV)

"What is it?" I inquired.

"It's the Sanctum Syndicate, they're trailing us.. and they've got two destroyer-class frigates and close to fifty fighter-class ships who's signatures I cannot entirely make out from this distance. Either way, they're closing on us. Fast." She fearfully replied.

"Sound the alarms." I replied. I made my way to the intercom in the rear of the bridge. "This is First Captain Caesar Narciso. Every soul on board, report to your assigned battle stations, this is a code three engagement, and is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Make haste in your efforts to secure the cargo on board, and brace for impact. We've got the Sanctum Syndicate on our trail. This won't be pretty." I cut the message.

"You know, this mission was covered up by UGF Section A Clearance level officers on Terra months ago, before we were even given the assignment. Someone in the UGF is working with Sanctum, and that means they have full knowledge of the formerly best kept secret in the UGF." Sheyla said.

"And what might that be?" I though aloud.

"The new capitol ship being 'built' on the edge of the Satril system has been built for weeks, and is operational. She can't move until we get there and fuel it's reactors." She woefully replied.

"And why is that such a big deal? The new capitol ship, _Infinium_, is well-armed and you said it's operational."

"Partially. By operational I mean interior lighting and life support is active. If Sanctum attacks the Infinium while we're dealing with their little assault squad, they won't have to deal with a single turret on the Infinium, so they can basically take the ship right out from underneath the UGF's grasp. If they also manage to take the precious cargo we're carrying, they'll have enough fuel to power the Infinium for five years. We can't handle the entire Syndicate fleet alone, so I'm afraid we'll have to take on our trail and haul ass back to Terra and inform counselor Anderson as soon as we're in range. We can trust her, she is my aunt you know."

It finally occurred to me that the Syndicate's plan was absolutely brilliant and that we had slim chances of proving it a failure. The UGF was building a jigsaw puzzle in front of the Syndicate, while hiding two pieces. One in their hand, and one under the table. Instead of snooping around impulsively, the Syndicate waited for the puzzle to be nearly completed, then take the two hidden pieces, put them together and complete the puzzle. Or in this case, steal the single largest ship in the UGF fleet.

"Bring the ship about. Engage inertia dampeners and disable gravity generators. Full power to weapons and thrusters. Power up emergency reactors 1-8. Get me firing solutions on the starboard destroyer. Have our gunners take out the smaller fighters."

"Aye!" The systems officer, or Second Captain Nayeli Sedrick, respectfully replied.

"Captain!" A voice frantically called from the doorway. I whirled around to see an engineer panicking in place. "What is it?"

"Sir, reactor 1A is unresponsive and is undergoing maintenance as we speak. Maximum thruster power is limited to 65%, even with the emergency reactors on."

"Very well. I want all available hands who aren't in a fighter or on a turret fixing that reactor."

"Aye sir!" The engineer called from halfway down the hallway.

"One hour to maximum targeting range on the starboard destroyer. Three days to signal range of Terra at the current burn rate." Captain Sedrick announced.

"This is going to be difficult" Sheyla observed.

I stoically replied, "We're just getting started."

Time: 0710 Hours

Location: Aboard the UGF _Vigilate Herba_, 3100 Meters from the Sanctum assault squad

(Third-Person POV)

"Captain! 30 seconds to maximum targeting range." Nayeli informed.

"Sheyla, inform the crew to be ready to take aim. Target the lower aft of the starboard destroyer. Don't fire until my mark."

"Aye sir!"

"Sedrick, what's the status on reactor 1A?"

"80% operational sir! Because of our range to the enemy, maintenance was canceled by UGF regulation. Our maximum burn output is 90%."

"That'll have to do. Arm warheads 10A-50A and 1B-20B. Fire on my mark. Instruct the crew not to fire until my mark."

"Aye sir! 10 seconds from targeting range!"

"Come on, just open up your bay doors, show us your reactor.. come on.." I mumbled to myself, as if asking the enemy destroyer to open it's lower aft hangar doors.

"Captain! They're opening a bay door where you specified the warhead targets. On your mark."

"Three.. Two.. One.. FIRE!" I shouted.

The entire deck shuddered as 70 UGF Nuclear warheads launched themselves speeding toward the destroyer at twice the speed of sound. As soon as the destroyer's bay doors were open, much to the surprise of his copilots, the warheads shot into the cruiser, heading directly towards the exposed engine room conveniently placed at the stern inside the aft hangar bay. A flash brighter than the sun, though only lasting milliseconds, forced the crew to avert their eyes. When the light died down again, they looked to see the entire destroyer gutted, bow to stern. "One down, one to go. Knowing the Syndicate, they won't make the same mistake again. We'll have to fight the second one manually. Focus our remaining warheads on the bridge and bow, they're usually the weakest point of Syndicate destroyers." Caesar ordered.

"Aye sir!" Both copilots replied.

The battle raged on for a few hours. The crew of the Vigilate Herba was getting plagued by fatigue and missing the enemy destroyer. Much to their relief, the enemy destroyer hailed them and formally surrendered. The Vigilate Herba took immense damage to it's port hull and half of it's deck turrets were put out of commission. "Well, we won. This time at least. Nayeli, how long until we are in reach of communication range with Terra?"

"Hmm, calculating loca-.. Uh-oh, sir we're not on the map. During the battle, we must've stumbled into uncharted territory.. This is not good, I'm not picking up any local UGF channels. Captain, we're lost."

A/N: DUN! DUN! DUN! Cliffhanger! :) Well, they have to come in somewhere, I guess. Please R&R! (Read+Review)


End file.
